1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices for indicating the speed at which a boat is travelling on a body of water and, more particularly, to a hand-held trolling speed indicator.
2. The Prior Art
The act of fishing from a moving boat by pulling a lure through the water is referred to in the art as trolling which is the preferred form of fishing for certain types of fish. Trolling causes the lure to perform in such a manner as to entice a desired game fish to strike the lure and thereby become engaged by the hook. Each type of lure has an optimum speed at which the lure should be drawn through the water in order for the lure to behave in the desired manner. Lure behavior is referred to in the art as "action." For example, if the lure is drawn too slowly through the water, there is very little lure action thereby rendering the lure substantially useless as a means for enticing the fish to strike the lure. On the other hand, drawing the lure too rapidly through the water imparts excessive motion to the lure. Accordingly, a skilled fisherman engaged in the art of trolling is deeply concerned with the speed at which the lure is being drawn through the water and, correspondingly, the desired degree of action imparted to the lure by movement through the water.
Trolling involves the boat being driven about a body of water, whether a river, lake, or the like, in various directions to pull the lure through possible areas where fish may be congregated. Once the fisherman has received a strike from a fish, it is customary to troll repeatedly through the same area in an attempt to entice other fish to strike the lure. Importantly, every attempt is made to duplicate the exact speed conditions for each pass of the lure as were present when the initial strike was obtained. This is done on the assumption that the same lure action will entice other fish in the vicinity to strike the lure.
Trolling speeds are relatively slow, generally in the range of about 100 to 700 feet per minute. A boat travelling at such relatively slow rates of speed is significantly affected by wind direction and wind speed variations. Accordingly, in the absence of suitable speed indicating devices, it is practically impossible to duplicate the trolling speed for each trolling pass through the body of water.
Numerous speed indicating devices have been proposed for water craft. However, until the present invention, no speed indicating device has been provided which is compact, easily hand held, readily adapted to different speed ranges, and accomodates being stored in the tackle box of a fisherman. In view of the foregoing, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a hand-held trolling speedometer. It would be an even further advancement in the art to provide a drogue for the trolling speedometer having a selectively variable degree of drag to adapt the trolling speedometer for use at different trolling speed ranges. Such an invention is disclosed herein.